What the fuck is he even saying. Had to press on the link leading to the tweet to make sure that it's the real quote. Reading the first sentence you get a feeling that it will happen, lol. But then he just says that it wont happen...

I think what's going on here, is that Dana is losing sleep seeing all these cool fights he can make, but lose out on millions in live gate revenue. Also the merch sells better at the event than online too. However fighters are demanding more money. I think he actually wanta to make Jones vs Ngannou, just not now.

My guess is that Jones wants a bunch of money for that fight and Dana doesn't want to pay him that much.

So he just tells the media it's not happening. It's just giving Dana a little more leverage. It also helps sells the fight a little more(tell someone they can't have something and they will want it more)

But at a guess he wants that much money that if he was to go up and lose badly and lose all of his mystique/change his legacy forever then he’d feel better about it, and Dana doesn’t want to pay that kind of money.

Nor should he. If Jones was serious about fighting at HW he can make it happen. I'm sure he'd still be paid plenty well, just not to the point of absolute absurdity that he might want. But I doubt he'd do it.

Why not? It is better than Reyes or Smith, but worse than DC. Jones doesn't really have an exciting fight anywhere right now, I actually think a Reyes rematch would pull better than a Francis fight as the Francis fight feels similar to McGregor-Mayweather or Masvidal-Diaz type fight AKA half circus act. Can Jones beat this guy that looks twice his size?

Why not. It's the fight everyone wants to see and is a massive legacy fight. Jon jones finally moves up to hw to fight the scariest mf there would be insane to see. I don't understand the "Jon doesn't need big pay day for it bc he could just do it if he wants to". They've got the money, throw the cheque book at him and make it happen. There is no down side to this fight happening.

Aside from Jon being a dickhead if anyone deserves a big pay day it's the lhw champ that's dominated for a decade going up to take on Ngannou at the moment

But think about it from the UFCs perspective. Suppose Jon wins. Does he now stay at heavyweight and fight for the title? Maybe, but now you have LHW being held up AGAIN because of Jones. Plus you just lost a massive cash cow in Ngannou because he has to start fighting up and comers again and can’t compete for the title until Jones gets his shot.

It’s not that different from why the GSP v Khabib fight will never happen until khabib loses to someone else first. The UFC doesn’t just send out their contenders/current money makers to get killed by the old guard because there’s 0 financial benefit to them other than fight night itself.

He’s not though because he’s already on the decline and he hasn’t had an exciting fight since DC. Ngannou is a highlight reel KO waiting to happen, his YouTube views alone are worth more to the UFC than Jon at this point. Also, even if they have an interim belt, everyone will know it’s just because Jon went up and no one will respect that champion.

Also it’s different losing a title fight versus losing what is essentially a non-champ super fight. Super fights are only a good idea for the UFC when:

1) both are champs
2) one or both is already close to retirement
3) the entire division on both sides has been cleaned out already by those champs

Then it’s not bad, but even then you are still guaranteeing that someone will have to take a step down in competition and, therefore, a step down in views, gate, clout, etc which are all things the UFC cares more about than putting on great fights.

It depends on what you mean by big pay day. Its hard to argue since we don't know the figures, but my impression / read / guess is that Dana is willing to give a big pay day but not an OmG FueKHuGe PAy DaY.

And I agree, Jones should be paid very well for such a huge fight. But there's a limit even to that lol. But again... this is a bloody difficult conversation to have since we don't have hard numbers.

As much as I can't stand Jon, lets be totally honest with ourselves here. He is not afraid of anyone. I refuse to believe that he'd be unwilling to fight ANYONE if the money were right. Ngannou is a VERY winnable fight for him if he can weather the early barrage Francis is going to put on him. If Ngannou doesn't KO Jon in the first 2 rounds, it will be a 5 round match of how many times can Jon take him down and elbow him in the face and then attempt a submission.

Jones is a coward and has publicly stated as much, that he has a huge fear of losing and would party during camps so he'd have an excuse for himself if he lost.

He'll never fight Reyes or Santos again. Look at him pretending he wants to fight Ngannou and then a minute later saying he's fighting Jan, literally the safest fight that he could make a case for.

He's talking like the Reyes rematch isn't even necessary or a possibility. He lost that fight and if he had any decency or really cared about his legacy he'd instantly rematch Reyes to prove he deserves the belt.

I don't think any of these guys are "afraid" of other fighters, per se, but they're definitely afraid of losing or being humiliated, many of them have talked about it. Champions are understandably a lot more careful about picking their fights and Jones is no exception. He'll never fight Ngannou and he'll never rematch someone who gave him a hard fight, unless it's years later and they're on the slide like Gus

How involved even is Dana in all of this. I get he retained a position at the UFC but didn’t he sell it? What are the odds he still has so much power to be the sole controller of who fights, when they fight, and how much they make ?

His legacy has something to lose. If he moves up and loses, then he's the champ that couldn't hack it in a different weight class.

GSP did it, Silva did it, DC did it, Conor did it, but... Jones failed. And all the haters can come out and say "I knew he wasn't good enough, he's not the goat, he's only good at fighting smaller guys, blah blah"

Right, but so long as he doesn't fight at HW, there'll always that "what if", and he can put his weight on saying "I tried to do it but the UFC didn't want it". Which you can be sure is what the Jones nut huggers will regurgitate ad nauseum whenever the subject is brought up.

Jones has gotten his fair share of ass beatings and came back from losing everything like at least 3 times, and still has the composure to come back and become champ each time, and you still doubt his mental strength 🤔

I wonder if the UFC is pushing for the Reyes rematch and Jon is trying to avoid it. After all, if jones loses his mystique before Reyes gets a chance at a rematch then they can’t use Jon to propel him to stardom as effectively

I feel like it would be more likely to happen if they could get revenue from live audience too. Spending a bunch of money on a big ass fight with no gate probably doesn't feel too good to the UFC. Sucks.

Wow that's a really small percentage of the total revenue. I have no idea what their overhead is, but yikes. Jones vs Ngannou would theoretically bring in some big numbers especially considering the state of the world/sports at the moment, wish they'd just go for it. Maybe Disney could prop them up if they lose a ton of money on it lol.

It's also pretty known that the Reebok deal that was signed a few years ago was designed to give a certain amount of cash out over a few years and when people did the research, it seemed like they were giving out the money A LOT slower than what was necessary.. ie; they're pocketing some of that Reebok sponsorship money (that was supposed to go to the athletes).

Fuck jones anyway, he doesnt deserve this sort of super fight money treatment from the ufc. Why would they be willing to put that kind of money on him and risk whatever the fuck he decides to do to ruin the card? Hes a risk and a liability plain and simple, he doesnt deserve big money super fights.

They don’t want to pay millions to end up tarnishing the record of one of their biggest stars in the sport which would inevitably devalue him. It’s just not worth the risk to the UFC to roll those dice. I’d love to see the fight myself but if I were an executive that owes dividends to my investors I would keep Jon cleaning out the LHW division fighting 2-3 times a year for the next couple years instead of log jamming two divisions. I think fans dont always see the company side of things.. sometimes the most fun fights arn’t the ones to make.

I speak fluent Dana at this point, whenever two fighters agree to fight and the UFC doesn't make it, it's either

They wanna promote a marketable fighter and think the opponent is too tough or is a bad matchup so UFC says nah (ie frankie vs conor)

They have two guys who are super marketable, and they don't want to kill either guys hype and also spread the views over two events (why have jones vs ngannou when you could have Jones vs X and then Ngannou vs Y two weeks later)

They asked for more money, and then Dana is like lol no. And then Dana does some random interview, is asked about why X fighter isn't fighting, he'll say some bullshit like "he doesn't want that fight" when we all know the truth, he asked for more money, and you said fuck you, how about instead we give you the 10th ranked guy, and the fighter is like like fuck you, I wont fight then. Then 3 months later, the fighter concedes, takes his 60k and fights whoever they want, cause the UFC doesn't give a fuck, and pays pennies compared to what the company is making so Dana/Fertita Bros/WME can buy NFL teams and 20 million dollar yachts/houses, and to also keep fighters hungry so they are forced to fighting 2-3x a year instead of just once (fuck you Jones, no way we're giving you 3 mil, take 500k and fight some random polish dude)

Jones is talking shit because he knows the fight will probably never happen. That is a fight that would probably draw fairly well but be terrible for both divisions. If Jones moves up to heavyweight for a non title fight and loses, LHW is absolutely fucked. If Ngannou beats Jones but then loses to Stipe again then it's almost an even worse scenario. Jones is also trying to get a shit ton more money for this fight when I don't even think this fight would sell THAT much more than a rematch with Reyes. Jon Jones probably already gets paid well why does he think he should be paid way more to make a fight that is a good super fight but bad for both divisions.

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Another Caveat is that with the ESPN+ deal the UFC probably isn't that worried about making huge money fights since ESPN guarantees a certain number of PPV buys.

If we're being honest the main reason people give a shit about Jon Jones is to see him lose. Sure he has his fanbase but most of them like him because he hasn't lost and is a dominant fighter. Jones has not looked very good lately, arguably losing his last 2 fights and hasn't had a finish since DC, so him getting destroyed by Ngannou would not be great for him career wise. Losing the mystique of being an undefeated fighter would not bode well for Jones.

If Jones moves up to heavyweight for a non title fight and loses, LHW is absolutely fucked

No it wouldn’t. It’d be like when penn moved up, lost to gsp, then went back down and continued defending his title like nothing happened. Also jon deserves a shit ton of money for this fight. If he’s actually getting paid anywhere near what the reported pay out for his fights are then the man is getting robbed blind with every fight.

Oh he can go back down and defend sure, but lets not pretend like Jon Jones losing to Francis Ngannou, presumably by brutal KO, would be a great promo reel for his return to LHW. I'm not certain that Jon Jones fighting a no name would sell well when his entire fanbase and persona is based around him being an undefeated fighter. Most people watch Jon Jones to see him lose, if he loses then what is there? His glowing personality?

And my entire point was about how this wouldn't make sense business wise for the UFC because they would probably make more money having Jones defend LHW strap and having Stipe defend the heavyweight strap. I don't think Jones vs Francis makes more money than those 2 title fights.

You think a man that’s been a professional cagefighter for over a decade is scared to cagefight rather than Dana just doesn’t want to pay him? Stop projecting how you would feel onto these fighters, they aren’t like you.

Translated from Dana White's language this means: they are asking for too much money, and I'm not willing to give it to them because I won't have any money left for my stripper bitches if I do pay what they are 100% worth.

I am ready to bet the house on Ngannou if this fight happens. Jones got hit in the face a lot by Reyes, Ngannou is bound to touch Jones once and then hes out. Jones best chance is to literally run for 25 minutes and throw leg kicks and hope to get the decision.

Yeah man Jon Jones out here putting head movement clinics on everyone right?? I ain't betting the house on your clown opinion lmfao.

His patented defense is literally "be longer". Be long, stick your hand straight out and frame your face, and back up in a straight line. Which clearly didn't work against bigger/longer guys in Gus/Reyes/Santos.

Is it gonna work against Ngannou who has 1 inch less reach and will literally beat Jones to death with the bricks that he calls hands?

Yeah buddy, I'll just bet the house on Ngannou. And hope he does a funny and brings his corner men wearing the Ghanian pallbearer outfits.

As much as I dislike Jones, he is extremely hard to hit clean. Reyes was able to do it a few times sure, but he’s also much faster, has better cardio, and is much better technically than Ngannou. This is why I’d much rather see a Reyes rematch.

A couple times? It's proven he is hittable by tall/longer guys. His entire striking defense is using his length to it's full advantage. He is older now and looks mortal without his PEDs. Going against a monster like Francis who is taller than him with an almost equal reach might lead to him getting his head knocked into orbit unless he fights a flawless mistake-free fight, which for someone's first HW fight is quite a feat

I don’t think Jones is prone to getting caught at all we’ve never seen him rocked outside maybe the first Gus fight. Sure, Francis has the advantage in round 1 but if it goes to the ground Jones subs him, and I think Jones takes 2 + 3 easily once Ngannou has a little less power.

Jones as already proven he has the frame to put on serious mass as we saw when he was power lifting. And I think Jones ability to game plan is as good or better than stipes with his 8 years of championship level experience.

Possibly the UFC are waiting for the whole Stipe/DC situation to get resolved before booking this. In an ideal world from the UFC’s perspective, DC beats Stipe, retires and then they make Ngannou vs Jones for the vacant belt. I think Francis is too big of a risk with no belt as a reward.

Tbh this was a bad move from the UFC, imo the risk in offering the money that Jones was asking if would’ve off been worth the reward, but also the UFC doesn’t have a big part of their income which is the Live Gate so asking for money in these times is a bit of nonsense

Translation: "I don't see them accepting my low ball offer, and I'm acting like I don't care if it happens or not because I'm hoping they'll acquiesce and accept this low ball offer so that I can make lots of money for us UFC elites."

Jones is claiming that the UFC won’t even listen to him in regards to money, that he’ll be paid his regular purse. He’s arguing that it’s a big risk for him, and he thinks it should be “super fight pay.”

Jones is essentially undefeated and at least to some, is the best MMA fighter of all time. For him to take such a massive risk to his legacy.. he would be a fool to not ask for multiple millions. Why wouldn’t he? Why would he take the scariest fight in all of MMA and not ask for a boat load of cash..